Naruto: Carnage in Fire Country
by swimmerzo
Summary: Naruto and friends receive a mission to eliminate a band of murdering shinobi, who wear their own forehead protectors that don the mark of a skull...  Naruto Hinata included


**Please Note:** **This takes place after the three-year break in Naruto. Everyone is around the age of 15 or 16 years old.**

Chapter 1: A Mission

Sunlight beamed through the windows behind Tsunade's chair and stopped on top of her desk of reports and bills and complaints and who knows what. Tsunade sighed, feeling the weight of the hours of work that she faced sitting uncomfortably in her stomach. Shizune leaned against the wall to Tsunade's left, her eyes closed, idly stroking Tonton.

"You know the sooner you start, the sooner you'll finish." Shizune remarked, eyes still closed. Tsunade glared at her, knowing that it was useless- a glare has no effect when the receiver cannot even see it. Tsunade continued on for a moment more, vainly trying to get Shizune to at least look abashed under the intensity of her death stare. She gave up and consented herself with another loud self-deprecating sigh.

The door crashed open; "Tsunade-sama!" Izumo yelled. Panting slightly he continued. "We have an urgent request- a mission!"

Izumo stared at her, waiting for a response to his explosive entry, and after a moment of looking at him consideringly Tsunade leaned back. "Okay, what happened?" Izumo looked at Tsunade in shock (why would she be so nonchalant about this?), cleared his throat, handed her the folder with the request, and started to explain the situation.

Naruto sat in the most predictable place for him to be. Ramen Ichiraku. It never ceased to amaze Teuchi how much young men, mainly that one, could eat. But today was odd. Instead Naruto sat, staring deep into the broth of his first bowl, barely touching it.

"Naruto-kun!" Naruto jumped, finding Lee at his side.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." Naruto grumbled, squinting at him.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun, but the Hokage ordered me to find some people, and tell them to report to her immediately. One of those people happens to be you." Lee relayed, seriously.

"Granny Tsunade? Hmph. Fine, I'm going." He slid down from the stool, waving. "Bye Teuchi-san, bye Bushy Brows." And without further ado, he slouched off in the direction of the Hokage's office.

When arriving at the door, Naruto, as usual didn't bother with knocking, but instead pushed open the door, and swaggered in. Behind Tsunade's chair were Shizune and Izumo. Already in there were Hinata, Shikamaru, Shino, Neji, Ino, and Sai. Naruto received exasperated looks from Shikamaru and Ino, a blush from Hinata, a smile from Sai, but received no expression from both Shino and Neji, as expected.

"Really Naruto, you should knock before barging into the Hokage-sama's office." Ino exclaimed. Naruto ignored her.

"Watcha want Granny Tsunade?" Naruto asked with his hands behind his head. Ino opened her mouth to criticize Naruto further, when Tsunade cut her off.

"No point, he'll never learn." Tsunade looked worried.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, surprised. _Granny Tsunade will look angry or annoyed when announcing a mission, but never worried._ Naruto thought.

Tsunade waved her hand. "I'll tell you when the rest get here." She cocked her head, "Speak of the devil…."

_KNOCK, KNOCK! _

"Come in." Tsunade ordered.

In filed Sakura, Kiba with Akamaru, Choji, and Lee at rear. Tsunade watched them, folding her hands beneath her chin. She inhaled softly. "Well, that's everybody. Izumo?"

Izumo stepped forward. "You all have been summoned for a mission."

"A mission?" Everyone burst out.

"All of us?" Ino hollered.

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

"What a pain!" Shikamaru droned.

"What happened?" Naruto asked again.

"Twelve members on one team?" Kiba asserted. Akamaru barked in agreement.

"WHAT HAP-"

"SHUT UP!" Tsunade yelled, standing. Dead silence covered the room. "Thank you! Now if you would listen to Izumo-san, your questions will be answered!" She dropped into her seat. "Continue, Izumo."

He cleared his throat. "There is a group of rouge shinobi that have been terrorizing various villages of our country. They seem to have no fighting strength except inhuman speed that exceeds even that of Lee here." Everyone stared at Izumo, stunned. "They are spread all over our country, running about killing everything that they can. What they are aiming to accomplish through all this carnage is unknown. They have not attempted to murder a shinobi, but instead target the weak. Our Feudal Lord has ordered-" Tsunade's face blackened at that. "-That we hunt these men down." Izumo rubbed his palms together. "Well! That's the mission! You will be split into teams of two. There seems to be eighteen shinobi, and they shamelessly identify themselves with their own forehead protector that has the mark of a skull. Each team will have the mission of killing three each."

Everyone was silent, minds churning over what they had just been told.

"Okay! All that's left is for me to announce your teams!" Tsunade said with feigned cheerfulness.

_Perhaps I'll encounter Sasuke. _Naruto thought.

_Lee, Sai, or Naruto. Those three I won't mind. Maybe Ino. _Sakura thought.

_Naruto-kun._ Hinata thought.

_Please let it be Sakura!_ Lee thought.

_Oooh! I want Sai. He's really hot! Maybe Sakura. _ Ino thought.

_Shikamaru!_ Choji thought.

_Man, what a bother._ Shikamaru thought.

_All I need is Akamaru._ Kiba thought.

_I wonder?_ Sai thought.

Neji and Shino just listened.

"Lets see…" Tsunade pulled up a piece of paper from her desk. "Also teams will have a letter name each, for the sake of organization. So Team A will be…Kiba and Akamaru." She looked up. "Akamaru will have to count as a full on shinobi, since we don't have anyone else available."

Kiba scratched Akamaru behind his ear. "He's all I need." Akamaru barked, a deep bark.

Tsunade smiled. "Team B, Shino and Neji." The two exchanged a long weighing look before turning forward again.

"Team C, Ino and Sai."

_Ah. The incorrectly nicknamed, by me, Ms. Beautiful. _Sai thought, looking at Ino.

_SCORE!_ Ino thought returning Sai's look through lowered eye lashes. Sai shook his head slightly and looked away.

_What was that look? I haven't read about that…._ Sai thought.

"Team D, Sakura and Lee."

Sakura and Lee smiled at each other.

_Yes! The power of youthful love triumphs! _Lee thought righteously.

"Team E, Choji and Shikamaru."

They exchanged nods and slight grins.

"Team F, Naruto and Hinata."

Hinata turned crimson and Naruto looked at her.

_Hinata-chan? But she's kind of strange… _Naruto thought.

**That's the end of Chapter 1: A Mission. I hope you enjoyed my first chapter! I will assure you all that I WILL NOT turn this into some sappy love story. I'm toning down the romance. Any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome! =) Thanks for reading.**

Chapter 2: Longing

"So those are the teams. Go home and prepare! You depart tomorrow at dawn!"

They left the office, each automatically standing next to their assigned group member. Kiba riding Akamaru, Shino and Neji in silence, Ino clinging to Sai's arm and flirting outrageously (and Sai looking confused and overwhelmed), Sakura and Lee talking about the mission, Choji eating and Shikamaru thinking, and Hinata blushing furiously with Naruto trying to talk to her.

Tsunade looked over the list. She had tried to group by compatibility more that skill. She knew that a longer lasting mission like this would require them to get along for the sake of teamwork. She knew Choji and Shikamaru would work, and of course Kiba and Akamaru. Tsunade worried about Shino and Neji, but they seemed alike and from the little she knew about the two, she hoped their shared traits would help them get along. She worried for poor Sai, but Ino needed someone obviously stronger _and mature_ in her group, else her bossiness might put that team in jeopardy. She knew that Sakura and Lee got along very well as did Naruto and Sakura, but she knew that if Naruto and Sakura were partners they might just go off and hunt for Sasuke, and that she could not have. She also would not have paired Hinata and Sakura, for she had never seen the two together and didn't know if their very different personalities would cause them to chafe. So that left Naruto and Hinata. Plus Hinata seemed the only one besides Sakura or Sai to want to be paired with that hyperactive blonde.

Tsunade laughed to herself. For all the name-calling, she really did liked Naruto. And he was so much like Nawaki. Her mind paused for a moment, lingering in the mourned past that her little brother had been lost to.

She sighed for the millionth time that day, but this time it was different, in the soft moment of exhale she had with-held self pity. And instead the warm air cried for the forgotten souls of the past. 

The moon clung to the splotchy Velcro of the sky along with all the little winks of stars. A lukewarm breeze entered through an open window, stirred the air in a room, swirling over packed supplies, and rushed out again onto the balcony where a teenage boy sat staring upward. Naruto was no longer wearing his jacket but instead he wore a mixture of pajamas and outer wear; he still wore his t-shirt from that day, and he had only put on his pajama pants before longing had led him to the balcony.

He wished that he could see extent of what the moon was able to see every night (everything), so he could see Sasuke. Know where he was so he could bring him back to Konoha, and then he, Sasuke, and Sakura could go back to being Team Kakashi, Team 7. But he couldn't. And with all the hard work he had been putting into to it he knew that at that point _he still wasn't strong enough. _Still not strong enough to save the first person to truly accept and acknowledge his existence and strength. The first to see him as a friend. And the only to, in a way, _see him as a brother. _

_Sasuke._ He thought, pain filling his mind.

"_Sasuke." _He called softly into the night. "_Sasuke, where are you? What are you doing?"_

**That's the end of Chapter 2: Longing. I hope you enjoyed it. Not much happened but I really wanted to pinpoint Naruto's feelings, and hint on Tsunade's. Please give me CONSTRUCTIVE criticism! If you tell me "It sucked." then I cant really build off of that! I beg that if you find anything to criticize me on, whether it's on the plot or on grammar, I don't care. That's the only way I'll improve! Thanks for reading!**

Chapter 3: Dawn

It was still dark when Naruto started heading towards the gate. He mainly focused on the dirt street, thinking about the mission ahead. He stopped, thinking.

_I don't think we are all heading out at once, together. As long as we leave at dawn, I think Granny Tsunade will be happy. _Naruto looked at the gate that led from the Village. He had left early, since he couldn't sleep, so no one was there yet. _Maybe I should go to walk over with Hinata from her house. If we'll be departing at the same time it makes sense._

So Naruto turned from the gate and walked back in the direction of Hyuuga Hinata's abode.

Hinata woke that morning, unable to pry herself from her bed-for fear and excitement surrounded her heart and held her body down like a heavy metal weight. She was teamed with Naruto-kun. A mission, just her and Naruto-kun. She was terrified. Hinata forced herself up (what if she made Naruto-kun late?), got dressed and grabbed the supplies she had packed the night before. She went to the door to leave and found her father there. She looked down miserably, avoiding his iron gaze.

"Hinata." she looked up. He looked down, eyes making it plain that they considered themselves to be looking down upon a failure. "The Uzumaki boy. Don't get in his way in this mission. It would be an embarrassment to Hyuuga if you are the reason this mission is failed."

"Hai, understood." Hinata whispered. Her father walked away.

Hinata left her house feeling wretched, when, after passing through the gate, she heard a:

"Hey Hinata."

She whirled around to find Naruto-kun leaning against the gate. Her face went crimson and she passed out.

Hinata came to in Naruto-kun's arms. She was being carried. Again her face went crimson but this time she managed not to swoon.

"N-N-Naruto-kun?" she stuttered, blushing furiously. He looked at her and blushed slightly.

"Sorry Hinata, it's just that you fainted, and it was becoming dawn, and Granny Tsunade." he shuddered, face paling. "But we're only a few seconds away." he said cheerfully. "Are you okay now?"

Hinata nodded hurriedly, skin becoming redder and redder. Naruto set her down carefully, holding her hand and waist to steady her. Hinata's heart leapt.

"Why did you faint anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun." Hinata said, avoiding the question. Naruto squinted at her for a moment, but let it be.

He yelped. "Its dawn! Granny Tsunade will kill me- us!" He ran off leaving Hinata staring after him. He stopped, realizing she wasn't with him. "Hinata, what are you waiting for?" he gestured wildly. "WE'RE LATE!" he yelled, panicking. Hinata blushed, shook her head, and ran after him.

They arrived at the gate, panting, alone except for Tsunade. Naruto and Hinata gulped.

"What took you two so long?" Tsunade asked dangerously.

Naruto attempted to be nonchalant (an impossible feat, when Tsunade's glare was boring holes through one's body). "Hinata fainted, so of course I couldn't leave her." he remarked in a pathetically feigned idleness. "Don't blame her, she couldn't help it!" he added, hurriedly.

Tsunade rolled her eyes at Naruto and turned, concerned, to Hinata, "Are you okay? Perhaps I should check you quickly to make sure that there's nothing wrong." A blue flame covered her hand and she took a step foreword already readying herself to heal Hinata.

Hinata stepped back. "Oh, no, I'm fine Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade considered her for a while, looking her up and down. "Well, you certainly look healthy." She muttered. Louder, "So? What are you two waiting for? You have a mission!" Tsunade barked.

She waved them out with Naruto trying to protest that they had not been sitting around; they had been waiting for Tsunade to help Hinata, and Hinata obeying meekly.

Tsunade watched them walk away, knowing that the mission would not be too hard, but still feeling nervous as she sent off one of the few people whom she loved.

_Take care of yourself, Naruto._

**That's the end of Chapter 3: Dawn. Let me explain something; I am not suggesting that Tsunade loves Naruto in a romantic way; I mean as a sister would love a brother, or two close friends love each other. NOTHING ROMANTIC. She loved her brother, I think she loved Sarutobi (her Sensei), and I think she loves Jiraiya and Naruto. And for those people she feels the love one would feel to a family member. So forget anything sexual and weird.**

**Again I ask that you leave a comment, anything to help me improve my writing! Be as critical as possible! **

**Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.**


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